By Martin Valiyaparambil
Rewa: Every religion has its own customs, traditions, signs, symbols, and worships. Profane to any of these by word or deed is the desecration of God. It mutilates the faith of the people and a dishonor to their leaders concerned.
Recently, a group of ‘freakens’ has defiled the Christian symbol of salvation and the photos of the same are viral in the social media. The irony is that the government, supposed to safeguard the faith of the people in a secular democratic country, has not condemned or taken any corrective measures to arrest the repetition of such incidents which hurts the sentiments of the believers. It is same with the top leadership of the Church too.
The indifference of the Church leaders to uphold justice when such incident occurs repeatedly is really shocking to the real children of God. Let me ask, what the Church as a whole has done with regard to the arrest of the social activist Father Stan Swamy? What have we done when a religious nun is compelled and threatened to eat her words on ‘Onam’ in a police station by the religious fanatics? What have we done when the Church leaders’ and religious person’s name is maligned through films and in social media?
Of course, there have been individual agitations and protests, but they have no fruitful effect. Many are not even aware the incidents.
As far as I know, the Church as a whole is not serious in addressing such issues in apt platforms. Also there is no initiative to educate its people and the nation despite the availability of adequate facilities and well developed technology. We casually look at the events and dismiss them as a matter concerning a particular Church, diocese, or religious congregation. We do not set aside our differences and come together to fight against the purported forces.
We have witnessed the struggle of Kerala police in the implementation of court orders regarding the ownership of a few Christian worship places in Kerala. The cry of a bishop and the clergy with faithful was aired in TV channels along with the triumphant spirit of the other party. A true follower of Jesus could see such news only with a heavy heart. Are we really working for the kingdom of God or ‘our own’ in His name?
We consciously close our eyes to the reality that the gate of heaven is shut for us and for those whom Jesus entrusted to our care, when we compete for the material possessions. At the same time we radically proclaim and guide the simple souls to work for the wealth which no one can steal and the moth cannot destroy.
Yet, concurrently we ourselves fight in the streets for the worldly possessions. Are we truly swedging for the Kingdom of God? When we are busy in this worldly fracas, we fail to comprehend the signs of the time that are much alarming to our very existence as followers of Christ in this land.
The sociopolitical and religious context of the present day must direct us to the realisation that the enemy is in advantage when we grapple with our fellow brethren. The children of God must worship the Lord in spirit and truth not in competition and selfish possessions. Our brawl must be with the lords of darkness who in and out toil against the Church.
The greatest need of the time is the unification of the church in spirit and truth. Quite often the spirit of unity remains with the observance of ‘Unity Octave’ alone without any significant expression of it in the daily life of different churches.
Various Christian denominations ought to be coalesced in the proclamation of the Gospel in words and deeds. The struggle and tussle for the ownership of properties and the places of worship must be resolved instantaneously in the quintessence of common brotherhood by withdrawing the cases pending in the courts.
The people of God must argue and plead only in the court of Jesus not before the leaders and judges of this earth. Let the leaders of the church sit at the ‘Table of Christ’ to sew up the differences with the spirit of fraternity and charity.
Unless and until we come together in heart and spirit, it is not too far that the incident of ‘Hagia Sophia’ will repeat in India. Let our eyes and ears be opened to the fact that many Christian places of worship in Europe are turned to Bars and Restaurants and even many Churches are forced to sell their places of worship to other religions where they built their temples.
So our priority should not be to build the churches everywhere with millions of rupees rather to build the ‘kingdom of God amidst us’. Let us learn to adore Jesus in ‘Spirit and Truth’ by sharing the places of worship while concentrating on the material, social, spiritual well being of the people. Let me tell you, I myself joyfully functioned as a president of an ‘ecumenical Church’ for years where different denominations of Christians gathered for worship in an agreed schedule peacefully.
The leaders of the church should dare to “smell the sheep” and raise the voice to unite them in an agreed way of living the faith. The Catholic Church in India has a specific role to shoulder the responsibility in defending the faith and ‘protecting the sheep.’
Whenever any incidents of maligning the church and the faith takes place immediately should have an ax to grind and address the matter to the faithful and to the common people in way of Press Meet by all the dioceses, religious congregations, and institutions.
We must lecture to the people in our institutions conscientizing them to the reality and the facts hidden. Whenever such incidents occur, at once the matter to be noted to the CBCI, the official body of the Church in India and CBCI should direct the Dioceses and the Religious Congregations to clarify the matter to the public through press meets, petitions, debates, and protests.
It is the time we separated the wheat from the chaff and walked on eggs to defend our faith, forgetting denominational differences and personal interests.
(Vincentian Father Martin Valiyaparambil is the principal of Jyoti Senior Secondary School, Rewa, a town in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh.)